Rédaction Africa Links 24 with ALM
Published on 2024-03-04 09:44:18
The miracle did not happen and Wydad was prematurely eliminated from a competition in which they often played leading roles.
Wydad Casablanca hosted the Ivorian club ASEC Mimosas on Saturday at the Grand Stade in Marrakech for the 6th round match of Group B of the CAF Champions League, with the hope of a victory combined with a favorable result in the other decisive match between Simba SC (Tanzania) and Jwaneng Galaxy (Botswana) to advance to the quarterfinals. But between ambitions and reality, there was a huge gap.
The start of the group stage was not ideal for the vice-champion of the previous edition of the CAF Champions League, with precious points wasted, complicating the situation for the Casablanca club, who were in 2nd place with 6 points, tied with Simba SC, but with the advantage of direct confrontations for the latter. ASEC Mimosas led the group with 11 points, while Jwaneng Galaxy was in 4th place with 4 points.
In reality, things were not playing in favor of the only national representative in this competition. And despite the narrow victory over ASEC Mimosas, Wydad will not continue in the African adventure, as they were used to playing important roles and competing for titles. Nevertheless, in front of a large crowd, Wydad managed to do the essential, despite the scenarios. The Casablanca team won thanks to a goal from Mountassir Lahitmi, who took advantage of a defensive error to score the only goal of the match in the 18th minute.
Wydad, who finished the match with ten players after the expulsion of Badr Gaddarine in the 84th minute, hoped to reach the quarterfinals, but Simba SC’s large victory over Jwaneng Galaxy (6-0) put them out of the race.
In other matches, Esperance Sportive de Tunis officially secured their spot in the quarterfinals with a narrow 1-0 victory over Sudanese team Al Hilal Omdurman on the same day (Group C). The only goal of the match was scored by Yassine Merieh in the 23rd minute. In the other group match, in Angola, Petro Atletico defeated the other Tunisian team in the competition, Etoile Sportive du Sahel, 2-0. Etoile was already eliminated in the previous round. At the end of the 6th and final round of matches, Petro Atletico finished on top of the group with 12 points, ahead of Esperance de Tunis in 2nd place with 11 points. Al Hilal Omdurman and Etoile du Sahel were eliminated.
Defending champions Al Ahly remain on track to defend their title after a 1-0 victory at home against Young Africans to finish at the top of Group D with 12 points.
The Tanzanian teams secured the second spot in the group despite their defeat in Cairo, even though Belouizdad beat Medeama 3-0 in the other group match.
The Sundowns secured the top spot in Group A with 13 points after a 1-0 victory over TP Mazembe in Pretoria on Saturday, while the visitors also qualified in second place with ten points.
It is worth noting that of the eight teams officially qualified, three have yet to lift the coveted trophy, namely Simba and Young Africans from Tanzania, and Petro de Luanda from Angola.
CAF will announce the date of the draw for the quarterfinals in the coming days.
Read the original article(French) on Aujourdhui.ma
